They certainly do not. I always leave space for a car at the zip, and damn near every time 2 or 3 will try to push their way in there even though there is only space for 1 car. Infuriating.
I don't get why, if you signed a non-compete in good faith, you don't just honor the agreement ? Either stick up for your morals and don't take the job because of the non-compete or actually accept it not only as a legally binding contract (because they are rarely enforceable) but a moral one. I've caught employees poaching customer lists after they turned in their 2 weeks, verifiable by security software and video camera evidence. We didn't prosecute. Why shouldn't a business have non-competes though ? It's just to protect themselves from situations like I described. I wish the world was a happy place where things like this didn't happen, but it isn't, and not protecting yourself from this kind of thing is just asking to get screwed over. Nobody is a perfect judge of character.
I think the sale would still have gone though. For a lot of people putting in a small amount of money and getting a HUGE return on it is reward enough in it's own. So if some people put in 500-1000 and ended up getting 10x or more their investment back during an acquisition, unless they had some huge personal investment, it'd be hard to turn down that kind of money in the bank. I think this would be especially true if things went to scale. The big players would call the shots though and do the same thing as they do at the board now, choose the option that makes them the most $.
Personally I love them. I buy almost every one that comes out. I'll be passing on this one, but I'd be very sad if they stopped offering weekly deals. It's a good chance to try developers/genres you haven't before.
While this may be convenient for developers, I doubt gamers are going to want to see the same rehashed textures, objects and effects with each game they purchase. Reusing art assets - to me - just sounds lazy. Like something you'd find in one of those poor 'Game Creator' apps.
Take this one further, and you might ask why it's all run by cartels. We make it profitable for them with prohibition. We give them the resources to wage these wars ourselves. The only reason this violent industry exists is because the government makes it that way with unjust laws. Tax and regulate just like alcohol and it will be run by normal non-violent people. Just like liquor stores. Prohibition has never and will never work.
If anything you're being sexist by classifying this as a gender issue rather then a societal issue. Many of the things you listed effect both men and women. Sexual harassment and advances go both ways, for one. And if you speak up as a man you're considered an 'asshole'. No different then a 'bitch'. It's just childish terminology that really shouldn't be tolerated in the workplace to begin with. Women are equal now. Nobody sees hiring a woman as 'affirmative action' they are seen as somebody who will be an asset to the company. Somebody who can earn money. From what I've read recently their pay across the board is the same or better then their male counterparts, but don't quote me on this. You talk like this is the 50s, and it makes me wonder where you live that is so far in the past? In other parts of the world I will admit, being a man still carries a lot of advantages - not so much in the US.
You don't want to be an outlier in the prison system. If you're not on board with everyone else, there is a real possibility that you're going to get hurt. I think this is part of the reason Atheists are so underrepresented in the prison population. Simple self-preservation.
I refuse to use the cloud services anymore. I may be using a version of Photoshop that is 4 years old, but it does the job and does it well. There are some new features that I'd like to have, yes, but it's a small price to pay when compared to having all your personal information compromised.
I still have doubts about this controller being worthwhile but Valve has never led me astray before. I am willing to reserve judgement. Steam needs to release Source Engine 2 with multi-platform support baked in before they can ever hope to make a dent in the console market with living room gaming though.